Home For Little Wanderers Walpole students get a kick out of special guests

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 20, 2013 at 8:20 PM

Sitting on a railing outside the Home for Little Wanderers in Walpole, New England Revolution soccer player Charlie Davies said he hoped to brighten a kid’s day with some lessons and a surprise.

Brittney McNamara

Sitting on a railing outside the Home for Little Wanderers in Walpole, New England Revolution soccer player Charlie Davies said he hoped to brighten a kid’s day with some lessons and a surprise.

During what they called an impromptu visit on Tuesday, four Revs players gave some students at the Wanderer’s Longview Farm campus 30 minute soccer lessons, then presented them with 20 tickets to the team’s last home game of the regular season coming this Saturday. Davies, Chad Barrett, Scott Caldwell and Andy Dorman were all smiles during the visit, giving hands-on lessons and participating in drills with the students.

The Home for Little Wanderers provides education and live-in services for students ages 5 through 18 in the foster care system or with special learning situations. When the team heard the home was so close to Gillette Stadium, where they play home games, they decided to donate 20 tickets to the Oct. 19 game against Ohio’s Columbus Crew. Davies said the visit was good for both him and the kids.

"I’m really excited," he said. "I love kids and anything I can do to make a kids day, month, year better."

Caldwell agreed, saying that though the team gets more fans and recognition from events like this, he thinks the best part is making the kids happy.

"The most important part is to bring the kids a good experience," he said.

During the lessons, Revs staff Karl Spratt and Jassir Charris coached the kids, running them through team drills, each led by a player. Chris Messier, Home for Little Wanderers milieu director, said the exercises were benefiting the kids on multiple levels.

Messier’s colleague, Justin Cox, also a milieu director, said meeting professional soccer players showed the students that anyone can be successful with some hard work.

"It’s good to see people close to their age can make it," Cox said. "It’s a light at the end of the tunnel."

Barrett said he thinks it is important to show kids that living your dreams is possible through events like this one.

"It just gives them a way to hope for the future," the Revs player said. "These kids have lived tough lives. It’s important to make these kids realize they have amazing options available to them as long as they are willing to put their heads down and work hard."

Players connected with the kids through more than just soccer, chatting with them about topics ranging from how they became professional players to their favorite video game system. Davies bonded with two students over the game Call of Duty, and compared scars from broken legs with another.

"They’ll be talking about it all week," Cox said, smiling.

During the drills, Barrett noticed some kids playing in boots or other shoes unfit for soccer. When Cox told him the kids didn’t have proper cleats, Barrett suggested rounding up the Revs players’ old ones to donate.

"We have great cleats that we don’t use for stupid reasons. Superstitious reasons or they have a small tear in them," Barrett said. "They’d do a lot better here."

As the event wrapped up, the kids waved goodbye to the players, laughing and boasting about the new friends they had who play Major League Soccer.

"For them to see professional soccer players, for them to put a face with the name of a professional soccer player, it’s all they’ve been talking about," Messier said. "This is just amazing."